Tuesday, September 30, 2014

I have been in Canada and the United States doing research for a book about world ports. In Boston I interviewed Cornel Ban. He recently co-edited a special issue of Review of
International Political Economy on the BRICS’ relationship with the
Washington Consensus, and is the author of several articles: “Brazil’s Liberal Neo-Developmentalism: Edited Orthodoxy or
New Policy Paradigm?” (Review of International Political Economy), “Sovereign Debt, Austerity and Regime Change: The Case of Nicolae Ceausescu’s Romania” (East European Politics and Societies), “On Stranger Tides: The Diffusion of Ordoliberal Ideas in Postwar Spain” (History of Economic Ideas) and “Economic Transnationalism and Its Ambiguities: Romanian Migration to Italy” (International Migration).

Cornel Ban co-directs The Global Economic Governance Initiative at the Frederick S. Pardee Center of the University of Boston. I happened to co-direct "The Financial Governance Initiative" of FONDAD and other organizations in the years prior to the current crisis. Our focus was on how future crises could be prevented...

I found it very interesting and stimulating to hear Cornel Ban's views.
He is currently completing a book manuscript on the political economy
of crises, with a focus on the role of economic ideas and the
interaction between international and domestic actors. I will report on some of Ban's views in a next post after having listened to the recording of
our conversation.

Monday, September 1, 2014

We have to change the cultural, social, political and economic dynamics of society and the world community, otherwise we will not be able to combat unemployment, reduce the use of fossil energy, reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, reduce poverty, establish peace and restore calmness to the thinking and acting of consumers, business people, policymakers and young kids.

For too long we have let run the wheel of the world by competition, rivalry, restless thirst for power, grandiosity, megalomania, mass psychological stress, mass and individual fear because of uncertainty and insecurity, and, last but not least, democracy that has become an instrument of control of people instead of giving them a voice to jointly decide in what kind of a world we would like to live, thinking about the fate of ourselves, others, and future generations.

Only if we change the mentality, the routines and the rivalry we will be able to create a more prosperous, happy, and meaningful world community characterised by peace, the satisfaction of basic needs, mutual understanding and worldwide cooperation.

We need to establish a more equal world community by taxing the rich, increasing the income of the poor, and stimulating the rise of new politicians who are interested in working for a better society, at home and abroad.

Universities should become centres for education, research and dialogue geared at the interests of the whole world population and not of the happy few. They should engage in fundamental research, not dominated by particular political interests, in policy research, education and dialogue inspired by the wish to contribute to a peaceful, prosperous and equal world community.

I came to these thoughts, that are still in progress, as a result of thinking about ways to solve some fundamental problems the world community is facing. If you want to contribute to this thinking, please send me an e-mail: jj.teunissen@fondad.org

About Me

As a kid I liked numbers and the sound of strings. I considered studying engineering but chose social sciences because of my interest in people. I combine a theoretical interest with a practical, social approach which brought me to the sphere of policy research. I am interested in reducing the disparity between poor and rich, between the powerful and the less powerful.
In 1973 and 1982 I lived in Latin America. In the mid-1980s, I was able to create an international forum to discuss the functioning of the international monetary system and the debt crisis, the Forum on Debt and Development (FONDAD). I established it with the view that the debt crisis of the 1980s was a symptom of a malfunctioning, flawed global monetary and financial system.
I was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the European Network on Debt and Development that was established at the end of the 1980s to help put pressure on European policymakers.
In 1990, before the beginning of the Gulf War, I cofounded the Golfgroep, a discussion group about international politics comprising journalists, scientists, politicians and activists that meets regularly.
The website of FONDAD is www.fondad.org